Elderly win an income guarantee

Thanks to the already announced 1p cut in the basic rate of tax to 22p from this April and the inflation-linked increases in personal tax allowances, most people will be better off, despite the abolition of the married couples' allowance which took away £197 a year from married taxpayers.

The well-heeled will benefit most, with a professional couple without children earning £40,000 each gaining as much as £764. A single person earning £40,000 will gain £382 a year, but a couple with two children and the same joint income would only be £269 better off. A single person earning £20,000 will be £207 a year better off but, perversely, a single parent earning £30,000 is worse off - losing £48.60 because of the loss of the single parents' allowance and the one year delay in the introduction of the child's tax credit.

Pensioners are also winners. A pensioner couple on a joint income of £30,000 are £166 a year better off, while a single pensioner with income of £20,000 will be £155 better off.

And there was also some more cheering news for low income pensioners with a promise of a pensioners' credit with the aim of lifting the poorest out of poverty and protecting those with modest savings.

Pensioners will have to wait until the next parliament to see just how they benefit as the DSS has first to launch a consultation exercise. But the chancellor said that the new credit should mean that a pensioner with income of less than £100 a week, or a couple with less than £150,would qualify for the new pension credit to boost their income

In a further boost to low income pensioners, the capital limits which affect their entitlement to the minimum income guarantee, which has replaced income support for the elderly, will be doubled, though they will have to wait another year until that takes effect. From April 2001 the lower limit will be doubled so that they will be able to hold on to savings or pensions income of £6,000 before there is any reduction.

Half a million more of the elderly who were previously disqualified from claiming the extra money will be able to do so from next year, making them at least £250 a year better off. And the upper limit, above which there is no entitlement, will be increased from £8,000 to £12,000, so more pensioners will be able to hang on to more of their savings.

From next year the amount pensioners receive as the minimum guaranteed income will also be increased. For single pensioners it will be worth a maximum of £80, or £90 if they are over

Added to this pensioners will be pleased by the improved winter fuel payments will go up by £50 to £150 next winter and the affordable warmth programme to install energy efficient heating.

There is no commitment to link increases in the state pension to earnings, despite intense lobbying after this year's rise, linked to inflation, amounted to 75p.